Some seven months after the European Union and Turkey struck an agreement to turn back the tide of Syrians fleeing west, very few refugees have been sent back from Greece, and Brussels is losing its patience as overcrowded camps grow violent.

“Therefore it is right, and high time, that… EU member states recognise this and confront this challenge, deal with the problem themselves and be ready to act themselves.”

Under the EU-Turkey deal in force since March, Ankara agreed to take back migrants who made it to Greece in return for being allowed to send Syrians to the bloc in an orderly redistribution programme.

However, Greece has been slow to send migrants back to Turkey. Athens says this is because many have applied for asylum which means that they cannot be moved until the claims are processed.

In addition, Greece complains that the EU has failed to provide additional assistance as promised and to share enough of the thousands of migrants around the bloc.

Athens wants to transfer some of the nearly 16,000 migrants on its islands to the mainland but faces opposition from EU partners who fear a mass resurgence of migrants heading north, Greek migration minister Yannis Mouzalas said Monday (31 October).